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After the embarrassment at Pearl Harbor, at the Philippine Islands, at Java Sea, and at just about every engagement, overall long term goals aside, the American leaders wanted revenge. Specifically, they wanted to hit Japan where it would damage morale the most, as the Japanese had done when they struck Pearl Harbor. Admiral Ernest King named Tokyo as the target as he was bombarded by the American public with the question "where is the Navy? Why don't they do something?" Barely a month into the war with Japan, King had already summoned Captain Donald B. Duncan, his air operations officer, to discuss possibilities for such a revenge operation. It was necessary to raise morale, especially that of the US Navy. Americans had no bases within bomber operating range of Tokyo, and planes typically used with carriers did not carry enough payload to cause enough damage for such an operation. Duncan used some creativity to draw up a plan to borrow Army Mitchell B-25 bombers (General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold of the Army did not know why they loaned out the bombers when they did) and train pilots to fly them off of carrier decks. It was a bold plan, and a bold admiral was chosen to bring the bombers there: Vice Admiral William Halsey.

Lt. Colonel James H. Doolittle had always been a maverick of sorts in his career. He liked to be daring, thinking of military maneuvers that no one had yet done before. It was not surprised to see him taking on the task of lightening up B-25s in order to allow them to take off from carrier decks. Beyond the damaging valuable manufacturing centers, he, like those in Washington D.C., wanted to hurt the Japanese morale, too. Doolittle's call for volunteers was met with ample calls. In Eglin Field, Florida, Doolittle installed catapults in shortened airstrips, training the pilots to take off using as little space as possible. Landing was not practiced, as the plan was for the bombers to fly into friendly Chinese territory, where Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist troops would welcome them at airfields 1,100 miles from Tokyo. The pilots were not told of their targets, only that it was a dangerous mission which the rewards reflected the hazards. The pilots' only hint was that they were taught Navy etiquette by Navy Lieutenant Henry L. Miller; from this clue the pilots concluded they were going to hit a target in the Pacific. Most guessed wrongly at the Philippines.

On 2 Apr 1942, Doolittle's modified bombers and his pilots boarded the carrier Hornet, and sailed into the Pacific. On 13 Apr, the Hornet met with Admiral Halsey's fleet, which escorted her for the rest of its journey toward Japan. It was not until this time the Army pilots learned that their target was Tokyo: "Our destination is Tokyo," Doolittle said, "we're going to bomb Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Kobe, and Nagoya." The Army pilots bursted into cheers, while the Navy pilots were generally envious of the opportunity. "It's going to be a pretty tight squeeze", he continued. "But it's all been worked out the best possible way." Because he had spare pilots, Doolittle asked if any of the pilots wished to back out of the mission now that they targets had been revealed. None did. On 17 Apr, the task force refueled one thousand miles away from Tokyo. The bombers were each loaded with 1,140 gallons of fuel and four 500-pound bombs (except for Doolittle's and three others, which took on incendiary bombs). A few officers who were decorated in Japan during peace time appeared to tie their medals to the bomb. Halsey tied his to one of the big 500-pound bombs, saying "[b]oys, return these medals with interest." Unbeknownst to Doolittle, the purposed landing fields were not ready. The Chinese was not told of the nature of the mission, so when bad weather struck, they decided to maintain radio silence to prepare for a Japanese advance under the cover of weather.

At the dawn of 18 Apr, the fleet was discovered by Japanese patrolling picket ship Nitto Maru. She was quickly sunk by the cruiser Nashville, but not before enough time elapsed which Nitto Maru could have radioed her findings back to Japan. To prevent losing the element of surprise, despite hours before the originally planned takeoff time, Halsey ordered Doolittle take off, launching 800 miles from Japan instead of the planned 400 to 650 miles. The timing of the attack was also completely changed. Original plans called for a night time raid, but due to the early launch, the bombers would arrive during daylight. Gas was now a major issue. Captain Ted Lawson, pilot of the B-25 "Ruptured Duck" that participated in the Tokyo attack, remembered his anxiety as he checked on his suddenly non-functional rear turret before taking off.

Commander Mott of the USS Enterprise remembered that day after the bombers launched:

All 16 bombers took off the short carrier deck successfully, and they did not need to worry about bearing as the wind allowed the Hornet to point straight at Tokyo as the bombers took off. It was good flying weather, as Lawson recalled, and all aircraft reached their targets successfully. Despite earlier worries about the Nitto Maru providing early warning, the raiders encountered little defense. In total, the bombers encountered about 20 enemy intercepters (and a few were shot down by the bombers' turrets) and met sporadic anti-aircraft fire, but all bombers carried out their mission without suffering much damage. Doolittle's bomber was the first to reach Tokyo. Like the other raiders, he flew so low that the plane was in danger of coming in contact with power lines; he observed that he flew so low that he even broke up a baseball game in the Tokyo suburbs. When he neared the city, his bomber pulled up to about 1,500 feet and dropped his bombs at his targets, then diving low to make his escape in the southward direction (to prevent the Japanese from figuring out immediately where he came from or where he was going). On the way south he flew across a field of red and silver training aircraft, and, according to his navigator Lieutenant Henry Potter, Doolittle cursed over the noise of the engines because he had no more bombs to attack these planes.

Immediately after the attack, the Japanese attempted to control morale by announcing distorted figures. According to the official Japanese announcements, nine of the raiders were shotdown after they caused a few minor fires, though in fact only seven bombers attacked Tokyo and some of the damages such as the large explosions at the oil refineries caused significant damage. Regardless of the attempts to hide the extent of damage, it caused loss of face among the leaders of Japan; the officer in charge of Tokyo's air defenses committed seppuku because he felt dishonored and ashamed that he was not able to protect his country from the American attack. Argentinian commercial attaché to Tokyo Ramon Muniz Lavelle witnessed and documented the outcome of the raid, debunking the propaganda by the Japanese government to control the morale:

When the raid was finally officially announced by the United States government a few weeks later, it gave the American military the boost in morale that it needed at this stage of the war. Because of the early launch (plus the Chinese airfields were not ready anyway), none of the bombers reached Chinese airfields. Most crashed off or on the coast of China, with some unfortunately landing in Japanese-held territory. The only bomber that did not crash during the emergency landing found its way to one of Vladivostok's airfields, but the bomber was confisticated by the Russians and the crew interned (this crew escaped to Iran then returned to the US one year later). The few captured by the Japanese were put on trial for bombing civilian targets. Three were executed in Shanghai, China, on 15 Oct 1942; five became prisoners of war, enduring terrible conditions, and one died in prison as a result of such conditions. "It was with a feeling of deepest horror, which I know will be shared by all civilized peoples, that I have to announce the barbarous execution by the Japanese Government of some of the members of this country's armed forces who fell into Japanese as an incident of warfare", said American President Franklin Roosevelt, denouncing the kangaroo court and the rushed executions of the captured Americans. In addition to the executions, a Japanese effort to seek out the remaining American airmen who crash-landed in China resulted in 25,000 civilian deaths in the process.

Those who crashed landed in friendly territory recalled the selfless attitude of the Chinese civilians who put themselves in danger to save the foreigners whose language they could not even comprehend. Many injured American airmen were transported by sedan chairs, diesel trucks, junks, or whatever mode of transportation the local Chinese could find to move the Americans westward toward the Chinese war-time capital Chungking. Captain Lawson, especially after learning of the Japanese retribution on the Chinese civilians, said that there was no word to describe the gratitude he had for the Chinese who helped him and no word to describe the agony he felt knowing there was nothing he could do to return the favor, even though he found that the Chinese who helped him wished nothing in return for the assistance.

After the Doolittle Raid, many among the top Japanese leadership focused on eliminating the chance for a repeat of such an attack, which led to the Midway-Aleutian Islands invasion that would prove to be a pivotal point of the war.

Doolittle won a Medal of Honor for the successful execution of his bombing.

Doolittle Raid Timeline

Photographs

Maps

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Anonymous says:
   9 Jul 2005 12:58:17 PM
   
   Your views on this page are very bias and should include stories and points of view from all the countries involved in WWII. Since this is not included, it makes this webpage an unreliable resource. Also, it helps to put sources for more truism, without it, the information on this page is considered unreliable.
2. Anonymous #2 says:
   19 Apr 2007 08:23:19 AM
   
   Anonymous #1 is full of beans. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Nobody is entitled to their own facts. This article contains mere facts. Dont try to change history by you whining.
3. Anonymous says:
   19 Apr 2007 12:40:47 PM
   
   True...this is about what happened, not what everyone thought of it.
4. Anonymous says:
   3 Jun 2007 10:58:57 PM
   
   To the first post: if you dont like the way this is done, start your own **** website and dont bitch about this one.
5. Anonymous says:
   26 Aug 2007 06:35:05 PM
   
   Truism? As in altrusim? You lost me there, ace.
6. Sam says:
   1 Mar 2009 07:21:14 PM
   
   i don't like all these anonymous names this is stupid we all have our own ideas on the raid and there should be at least some links to other webs with different views
7. Anonymous says:
   17 Mar 2009 10:56:09 AM
   
   I think this website is a reliable source. I got an A on my project
8. Walter says:
   31 Dec 2009 03:06:17 PM
   
   Good article. One thing I find amusing that wasn't mentioned is that the timing for the raid and landing in China is that the planners failed to take into account of crossing the international dateline. In the end it didn't matter because of the early launch.
9. Anonymous says:
   23 Feb 2012 06:08:35 PM
   
   this is helpful to me
10. Anonymous says:
    21 Dec 2012 07:04:46 AM
    
    America sucks
11. Chris says:
    17 Apr 2013 05:36:13 PM
    
    It is April 17th where I am now (New England, USA), but it is April 18th where Col. Doolittle launched his attack. He and his brave fliers may have past into history, but let us NOT forget the COURAGE it took to under take this mission. I speak for myself , but I can not fathom the depth of guts it took to fly this mission! Thanks to those who flew this mission and prayers to those who fell in enemy hands and suffered and died. Your sacrifice to freedom was not in vain! Despite the events that took place in my birth place Boston, MA two days ago yours is a shining example of love of country and freedom that we in the world we live in today shouls draw strength from. Done with my rant. Final word: I really am in awe of those who answer the call of their country in it's hour of need! You have my unquestioned thanks and praise!!
12. Alan Chanter says:
    3 May 2013 01:22:05 AM
    
    Doolittle picked Twenty-four 'Volunteer' crews from the 17th Bombardment Group (Medium) for training at Elgin Field. This Group had been conducting routine maritime patrols along the West Coast ever since Pearl Harbor and there would most certainly have been no shortage of keen young aircrew looking for a bit of action.
    
    The sixteen twin-engined B-25 Mitchell bombers selected for the operation were heavily modified for the long range mission. Three auxiliary fuel tanks, ten 5-gallon tins, and a 360-gallon capacity collapsible rubber bag were added to the normal fuel load to provide the bombers with a sufficient 'attack and escape' range. The bomb load was small, but the three 500-pound bombs and single incendary cluster could still do a significant amount of damage if dropped on the right target. For security reasons the (secret) Norden bombsights were removed and replaced with a very effective substitute, called the 'Mark Twain', especially designed by Captain C.F. Greening, USAAF, for low altitude bombing. For 'protection' from astern two fake wooden .50 machine guns were installed in the stingless rear turret.
    

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